//------------------------------// // Slipped through my fingers // Story: Pick Up The Phone... // by Feather_Quill //------------------------------// That night, in my bed, I tossed and turned. Hot flushes consumed by body as I desperately flipped from left to right. Every minute I found myself looking up at my phone to see if anyone had texted or rung... To see if Applejack had texted... All I could think about was Applejack. I closed my eyes and her face appeared, with those glowing, gleaming eyes staring back at mine. She was always there. Whenever I thought about her I felt a powerful synapse of happiness coupled with a feeling of emptiness. My brain spun uncontrollably, my palms turned clammy and damp, my chest tightened and I involuntarily bit my lip. So many girls had been interested me and I had rejected them. Never before had I felt so attracted to another female. Sure I'd liked guys and girls, but not like this. I thought I had an idea of what... Love is. It was a stupid feeling that suckers felt and that held you back from everything that you needed to to but this. This was different, this was an amazing feeling that made my determined, like I could excel at anything I tried as long as Applejack was by my side. … But Applejack wasn't by my side... This was ridiculous. She was my friend, a fellow element of harmony, there is no way that I could ruin that with this kind of feeling. Maybe, I could just ignore it and it would go away. Like a cold. Suddenly there was a knock on my door. I immediately cleared my head of any expectation that it might be Applejack, because I knew it wouldn't be. I slipped out of my bed and opened the door to reveal... Applejack. “Rainbow.” She said, stepping into my home without invitation. “What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!” “I need to talk to you... About at the barn...” She stroked her hair and I felt myself begin to plush. Clammy hands. Spinning head. Tight chest. All the symptoms were there, all right. “Yeah... I figured that you would...” I scratched the back of my neck with my hand and nervously glanced back at the girl that was staring at me with wide eyes. Her pupils were dilated, her face was sweaty and her eyebrows narrowed towards the centre; no doubt whatever she had to say was bad news. “I don't want it to mean anything to you.” The words cut through my heart like a knife. Like a thousand knives piercing at the exact same moment. I could barely gasp for breath my lungs had compressed that much. My stomach tossed and turned so much I felt the vomit build up and try to jump out my mouth. I tried to suppress it. “You d-” The words wouldn't properly come out and I sounded like I had a sore throat. I coughed and tried again “You don't? Why not?” She stared at me as though she was in pain, which angered me. Why does she have to look as though she is the one in pain? I'm the one with a broken heart. I'm the one with my whole life, my whole everything laying broken on the ground. I felt like I could scream and cry at the same time, right there and then. In fact, I could feel it beginning. I suppressed it again. No matter what Applejack could not see my weakness. I wasn't weak, I'm strong and athletic, nothing can change that. Not even this. “I'm sorry, there's so much-” “You came onto me, Applejack.” The voice came out to quick, with too much rage. She was immediately taken aback and I felt my whole body give way in that one move. “I know. I shouldn't have. We're friends.” “Yes, we're friends. I know, but you came onto me.” I halted and turned away with a harrumph “not that it even meant anything to me anyway...” “It didn't mean anythin'?” “Nope. Not a thing.” I covered up my lie with a confident voice. Applejack couldn't sense it, she scarcely knew what lying sounded like. “Well it meant something to me, and it really hurts that it meant nothing to you!” “Of course it meant nothing, look at you. You're just a farm pony. You're nothing special...” I felt her hand move and hit me straight across the face in a quick pain. It didn't hurt that much but the gesture hurt me hugely. “How dare you!” She screeched, with tears swelling in her eyes. The fact that she could break my heart and then hit me as well made the rage begin to burn in my blood. “How dare I?” I asked, immediately realising she didn't know how much she had hurt me. I shook off everything and swung my fist to punch her back. It hit her cheek hard. Too hard. Blood squirted from her mouth and she fell backwards as the impact hit her head. She lead on the floor and stoked her cheek. As she pulled her hand away she saw the blood and stared at me with anger and fear. “What's happened to you Rainbow? The old you would never have hit me!” “The old me wouldn't have kissed you either!” “I thought it meant nothing to you!” “It didn't! It doesn't!” I crossed my arms and glared at Applejack “but that doesn't give you the right to kiss me and then just tell me that it means no-” “I have a girlfriend!” Applejack finally yelled, her eyes tightly shut and tears streaming down her face. “a...” The news hit me so hard. I needed to sit down, but I just couldn't. Especially not whilst she was here. “Then why did you...?” “Because... We had a weird connection and I'm too darn stupid to ignore it...” She stood up and opened the front door “I thought we could be something one day Rainbow Dash, but now I know what kind of girl you really are!” Just like that she was gone. I let her slip right through my fingers and now she would never come back... The second she left I leant back onto the wall and slipped to the ground. Hugging me legs close to my body I began to cry. Tears stained my pants but I didn't care. Not only had I lost a friend. I'd lost possibly my only chance at happiness too. The next day, I was wondering through town. I was feeling so down, like anything could happen and it still wouldn't cheer me up. It was like the whole weight of the world was pushing down on my shoulders. Despite my depression, I knew that I still had to get out of the house. It wasn't like me to sit around crying about everything, I had to just get out into the world and pretend like nothing was up. That's the Rainbow Dash way! I decided to stop by at Twilight's library. I just needed to take my mind of Applejack and some of Twilight's boring stories about books could really help me to get on with my life. I swooped in and saw Twilight wearing reading glasses, completely amerced in a book. “Twilight...” I said as I shut the large wooden door behind me. She looked up at me suddenly as though I had yelled it. “Sorry.” I chortled, trying to push back my laughter. Her cheeks flushed as she put the book down onto a desk beside her then stood up and brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here?” I shrugged “I don't know, just kinda bored, you know?” “Well...” She began “I have loads of books if that's what you're after.” She gestured to the large shelves filled to the brim with hundreds, even thousands of books each arranged alphabetically to satisfy Twilight's ridiculous need for organisation. I shook my hands “no, no, no, Rainbow Dash doesn't read!” “Clearly she does since you've read all the Daring Do books.” My eyebrows narrowed “that's different.” Twilight sighed. She knew better than most that arguing with me about something so unimportant would be a complete waste of time. “Well what do you want from me?” I slumped down on the sofa and picked at my teeth with my finger nail “I don't know. I've just got nothing else to do. It's weird because normally my life is so thrilling, you know?” Twilight narrowed her eyebrows in an expression that could only be described as a scowl. Suddenly, it changed to a more curious face, a face known well as Twilight's 'question face'. “Who are you taking to the Ponyville Sun Celebration Ball?” 'Oh my God,' I thought, my body shivered 'how could I have forgotten? If I go alone then everybody will think I'm some kind of loser!' I stood up and wordlessly exited the library leaving behind a very confused looking Twilight. 'If AJ sees me alone, I'm gonna look like such a loser...' I paced down the street, looking at everyone that passed by me. “Have you heard about Applejack?” The voice hit my ear like a knife and, like the nosy neighbour I was, I couldn't help but advance upon it. I walked by the stall where the two girls were talking and hid behind a wall, just within earshot. “No, what about her?” The second voice asked, just as shrill as the first. “Well, you know her girlfriend, Fritter? Apparently they broke up-” I felt my heart rate begin to elevate. Was it me? Did they break up over me? “-Lyra told me that Fritter told her that Applejack told Fritter that 'something had come up' and Applejack needed to 'rethink their relationship'” I ran down the empty alley at the speed of light. 'It was me. Applejack dumped her girlfriend because of me!' I screamed to myself. I felt like my heart was going to beat its way out of my chest. My body could barely take all the excitement. 'But, she's still mad at me. I need to bring somebody else to the ball, then when she sees me there she'll get super jealous. I just know it!'